UK Scholarship Help Choosing Lab?

[NapoleonBonaparte]

I am currently applying to medical schools as a senior in college and I was awarded a UK Scholarship this past month. As such, I can study at any lab, department, institution in the UK for 2 years. Ideally, I want to choose something that will best aid my career as a medical student going into residency and beyond.

I’ve done tons of wet lab cancer biology research with publications, but this past year I’ve been conducting computational neuroscience research. I told my old PI and mentor (the wet lab cancer guy) that I was thinking about choosing a neuroscience lab to boost my chances for neurosurgery (my current specialty of interest). He then said that my chances for changing specialty are too high and that he instead recommended me to do something super basic/fundamental that can be applied to any part of the body or any specialty (so things like genetics, protein biology, genomics, etc.)

Is this the right approach? How does a computational neuroscience lab sound? Or is wet lab preferred by residency directors?

Moreover, since I have two years, instead of splitting 1 year + 1 year in different labs, he recommended that I try to stay in one lab for 2 years. What are your thoughts?

What should I be aiming for here? Super general/basic lab with maximal chances of publication? Or try to choose a lab based on future specialty of interest? Thanks!

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[deleted736562]

I am currently applying to medical schools as a senior in college and I was awarded a UK Scholarship this past month. As such, I can study at any lab, department, institution in the UK for 2 years. Ideally, I want to choose something that will best aid my career as a medical student going into residency and beyond.

I’ve done tons of wet lab cancer biology research with publications, but this past year I’ve been conducting computational neuroscience research. I told my old PI and mentor (the wet lab cancer guy) that I was thinking about choosing a neuroscience lab to boost my chances for neurosurgery (my current specialty of interest). He then said that my chances for changing specialty are too high and that he instead recommended me to do something super basic/fundamental that can be applied to any part of the body or any specialty (so things like genetics, protein biology, genomics, etc.)

Is this the right approach? How does a computational neuroscience lab sound? Or is wet lab preferred by residency directors?

Moreover, since I have two years, instead of splitting 1 year + 1 year in different labs, he recommended that I try to stay in one lab for 2 years. What are your thoughts?

What should I be aiming for here? Super general/basic lab with maximal chances of publication? Or try to choose a lab based on future specialty of interest? Thanks!

Chose a topic that you're interested in and a mentor you get along with. These are two years of your life you won't get back. Pick something that you feel will help you develop your skills as a scientist. The specialty will sort itself when you are in medical school.

 

[gyngyn]

This thread can be followed here: UK Scholarship Help Choosing Lab?